(JENKINTOWN, Pa.)--"If downsizing cut a newsletter staff in half, how could the editor continue publishing issues on time?"

That question was answered by Gavin-Hodges Associates management consultant-trainer Roland L. Draughon, in an article with Judy Artunian, West Coast correspondent for Writing that Works: The Business Communications Report published by Communications Concepts, Inc ., Springfield, Virginia. The article, in a recent issue, is entitled "Take control of your publication."

"When publication editors and managers claim that they have too much copy, too little copy or not enough writing help to produce a printed or web publication, the real cause of the lament, "Draughon told Artunian, "is very often a lack of their clarity about the three P's of publication management. The three P's," Draughon specified, "are policy, priorities and the production schedule. Without that clarity, editors and managers end up trying to force the publication into trying to serve too manay masters--and that can never succeed."

Below are quotes from Roland L. Draughon that expand the interview that was summarized in the Writing that Works article.

Policy
"The foundation element among the three P's is the development and client agreement on the Policy for the publication.

"Every publication must have a written policy. Before any issues are produced and distributed, there must be a policy document that specifies exactly the what, the why, the how and the roles and responsibilities of producing the piece.

"The what-why-how-roles data includes the client's operating priorities, the target audiences and the behaviors that the client needs to influence among those audiences. All of those elements must be agreed and documented on paper between the editor/manager and the organization publication client.

"Over the 25-plus years that I have trained and worked with publication editors, I have found that editors rarely, but ought to, identify the "client" for their publication. When I ask who the publication's client is, I get either a blank stare or the flippant response, "The company is the client of all publications and communications!" Or, they toss in that "Employees are the publication's client!" Neither response is correct.

"It is critical that an editor/manager know who the client for a publication is! I try very hard to get editors to understand that there must be an identifed "client" for their publication. Otherwise the editor is merely "filling pages" with "fluff stuff" and that is a waste of time and organizational resources. The client is never an unspecified, anonymous entity christened "the company" or "the organization."

"The definition of "client" for a publication—or, in fact, the client of any other organizational communication message—is the organizational person with the need to communicate with a specific target audience.

"There is a warm body somewhere in the organization who owns the need for the messages to be communicated. In addition, the Publication Policy must be updated and again agreed to by the client if any time the what-why-how or roles shift or change.

"The Publication Policy identifies the publication's target audiences (employees, customers, business prospects, retirees, etc.) The Policy specifies purpose. For example: X Printed Publication is produced to keep current customers up to date on (innovations in company products etc.). Or, X Web Publication will serve as the primary resource for distribution of information on (x- information).

Publication Priorities (topics/subjects)
"The second critical factor of publication management is Priorities. This is the need to determine what is most important to include in the publication during the year.

"Every item in the publication should have a purpose for being included. Any editor/manager who says that there isn't enough information to fill the pages of his/her publication has not constructed a publication plan for the year. Editors who also say that it is not possible to plan a publication for a full year need some serious training.

"Every editor who (1) understands what his/her publication is trying to get done and (2) who has in hand a publication policy that is agreed upon by the client, can produce an annual publication plan. The reason that a year-long publication plan is possible is because the client has priority operating objectives for the year. The client's operating objectives should be the source of information content for the publication.

"While it is true that events can change as a year progresses, the annual publication plan is the foundation for what-is-known at the time the annual publication plan is developed.

"The editors who worked for me over the years understood that in November of each year, they were to produce a 12-month plan for whichever publications were their responsibility. They knew our procedure was to give the publication client a publication plan proposal for the coming year based upon their discussions with the client.

"What does a publication plan look like? A publication plan identifies the organizational issues and sketches the story topics with one-paragraph descriptions that explain the relevance of the topics to the client's operating objectives.

"If the client's operating priorities change, then the publication plan changes to reflect those changes. If the client's operating priorities remain unchanged, then the publication plan that goes into effect in January remains in effect through December.

"What is to be included in any organizational publication, of course, depends on how well the editor/manager knows and keeps up-to-speed on the publication client's operating status all year long. Any editor/manager who claims to not have enough information to fill the pages is not doing something right.

"Another thing that I recommend is that every editor periodically take a look--by category--at what is being included in the publication. It's called a Publication Content Analysis. It's a mathematical analysis of the total space available in the publication and what items and stories were placed in that available space over the past 12 months. From a Content Analysis an editor can see clearly if he/she has included fewer organizational priority stories than jokes, cartoons, recipes, service anniversaries and baby births. Content Analysis also indicates whether or not the publication is a contributor to the organization's success.

Publication Production/Distribution Schedule
"The third critical element in publication management is the actual production and distribution of the piece. That may sound like a no-brainer but it is not. A corporate staff I managed once had a publication called "Every Tuesday." That meant that it could not be distributed on "Wednesday" or any other day besides Tuesday. (We never missed a Tuesday distribution!)

"The credibility of the editor and the publication are at stake if the readers/target audience ever doubts whether the piece is going to be available at the same time, on the same day, every time that it is scheduled for distribution.

"How to construct a production schedule should be well-known to all editors but just in case, here's the how: A publication production schedule begins with the distribution date and works backwards through the printing/distribution dates, approval cycles, art cycles and writing deadlines to the interview source dates.

"Here's something else that usually gets some raised eyebrows in my publication management seminar: I expected my editors to be at work on three issues of a publication at all times. If the publication were a monthly, the editor would be at work on the current month's issue, the next month's issue and the issue three months out. The content of the current month's issue was unchangeable unless the world were hit by a comet or the corporation were sold to our major competition. The next month's issue was "in focus" and headed to the "unchangeable" phase but there was still time to move stories and art into and out of it. The issue three months out had definite content but was still had "fuzzy" elements and was still open enough to allow its content to be tinkered. In all cases, the content was based on the publication plan and the content priorities agreed to with the publication client in November of the previous year."

Gavin-Hodges is a Jenkintown, Pa.-based employee communication management firm. Public seminars presented for communication professionals include a one-day strategic communication targeting workshop, "Planning Communications to Support Organizational Objectives" followed by "Internal Communication Consulting for Bottom-Line Impact," an advance session on internal communication consulting with operating managers.

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